Apparently I have a thing for vintage record player cabinets. This is my second record cabinet makeover in recent days (see the first), and I am as much in love with this one as the last. I found this Mid Century style record console that had been gutted on Craigslist and picked it up immediately.

It is solid wood, and was in fairly good condition. Except it was FILTHY. Truly one of the more disgusting pieces I have found. Exhibit A:

So, I busted out the DL hand cleaner (aka the best furniture cleaner in existence) and spent a solid two hours scrubbing and sanding. I have found that when I am planning to paint a piece, I will typically use the DL and then spend as much time sanding, first with 120-grit to really get the finish off, then with 320 to smooth the edges.

I removed the hardware, pulled the doors out and primed the piece with Gripper primer in grey, then I began to paint. I wanted to minimize brush strokes for a smooth finish, so I used a small, dense foam roller brush and satin finish paint in Martha Stewart’s “Wrought Iron” (which is the same color I used on the last record cabinet. I am clearly obsessed with this deep grey-blue). Then, after I had painted three coats in the Wrought Iron, I taped the legs and painted just the feet in a metallic gold paint (Martha Stewart specialty finishes – Vintage Gold). I was inspired by several Mid Century pieces that have metal sheathings on the feet:

hey, so i have a question. are you using this with modern speakers? or with the insides taken out?
I’ve been thinking of finding some old stereo cabinet and making it into a flatscreen tv stand. However, the ones i’ve seen at the thrift stores are full of stereo innards (how do i remove them?), and they often have tops that seem like they may not support the weight of a television.
If you’ve done anything to change the structure of the piece, could you share?

This one already had all of the speakers and record player components taken out. You can usually remove the speakers and record player fairly easily using a screwdriver. Once you remove the back of the console, it should be pretty easy to get everything out. Good luck!